Earth moving system



April 25, 1961 c, DOYEN 2,981,014

EARTH MOVING SYSTEM Filed Nov. 6, 1958 IN VEN TOR.

EARL C Da s/v fi d States Patenr 2,981,014 EARTHMOVING SYSTEM' Earl c. Doyen, 9 High St., Littleton, NH. Filed Nov. 6, 1958', Ser. No. 712,299

8 Claims. c1. 37-116) The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for moving earth and more particularly to a method and apparatus for moving earth utilizing standard earth-moving components in a combination such as to provide a highly flexible system capable of operation over extremely rugged terrain with great facility.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and combination of apparatus for earth-moving operations utilizing readily available components in a new system organization.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a method and combination of apparatus for earth-moving and is employed as a movable element during transportation of the drag line bucket to or from an excavation point, so that fixed obstacles may be readily avoided.

It is still another object of the present invention to provide a combination of a crane and a bulldozer having a continuous cable strung therebetween and a drag line bucket secured to the cable; the bulldozer operating as a fixed anchor point during intervals when the drag line become subsequently apparent. I} tained in a given position by means of a cable 9 of a with a caterpillar tread 4 so that it maybe readily maneu-f of a bolt 8 passing completely through a frame member of the dozer; the A-frame 7 being rotatable about the bolt 8. The frame 7 is provided with an upper pulley mechanism 12'and a lower pulley mechanism 13 disposedvertically'one below the other respectively for purposes to The frame 7 is .main-.

winch 11 secured to the rear of the bulldozer. By winding or unwinding the winch 11 the frame 7 may becaused to rotate about the bolt 8. Y

The crane 1 is provided with a first winch 14 from i which a cable 15 extends upwardly over a boom 16 of bucket is being employed to scoop earth and being emvantagesof the present invention will become apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description of one specific embodiment thereof, especially when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the combination of the invention applied to an earth-moving operation in a specific type of terrain; and v v Figure 2 is a rear elevational view of an A-frame adapted to be applied to a bulldozer employed in the present invention. 7 i i t Y Referring specifically to Figure l of the accompanying drawings there is illustrated a large crane 1 situated on top of a hill which is to be gradedbythe apparatus of theinvention so that a continuous slope is provided from thetop to the bottom at the hill. The locale,-as illustrated, in the Figure 1 ofthe drawing; has a deep gulley 2,

located immediately adjacent the crest; of ihfifhlll, terminating in a sharp rise*3.-;lt is the. intention of the apparatus to level the rise 3 andpl'ace the earth removed from the crest in the gulley 2. A bulldozer, generally. designated by provided with a scraper 5 which, durii gexcavating operh v thereference numeral Z, is disposed at the v bottom of the-hill, and is the crane and over the top of a pulley 17 rotatably secured at the upper end of the boom 16. The cable 15 extends from the pulley 17 through the pulley mechanism 12 on the A-frame 7. The line 15, which will hereinafter be referred to as the haul-back cable portion, then extends through the pulley mechanism 13 and back to a second Winch 18 on the crane 1. The length of cable extending between the winch 18 and the pulley mechanism 13-is designated by the reference numeral 19 and is hereinafter referred to as the haul cable portion. 7 Se cured to the haul cable portion 19 is a drag-line bucket 21 which may be'of conventional design. The front end of the bucket 21 is secured by means of a suitable member, such as a chain 22, to the haul-drag line 19 and the back end of the bucket 21 is secured by a chain 23' to. another section of the line 19. The boom 16 is rotatably secured to the frame of the crane 1 and its position is controlled by a winch 20 mounted on the frame of the crane and a cable 25' attached to the boom 16. r

Referring specifically to Figure 2 of the accompanying drawings, the A-frame 7 comprises a pair of upstanding wardly from the cross member 27 and join at an apex 32.

The hub members28 and 30 are disposed on either side of the frame of the bulldozer 2 and are aligned with apertures suitably drilled through the frame so that the bolt 8 may pass through the hub members 28 and 30, and through the frame of the bulldozer. f v

Ari inverted U-shaped bar 33 is secured to the cross member 27 generally equi-distant between its ends and is adapted to have a loop of cable 34 pass therethroug'h. The loop of cable 34 extends about a rivet or cross bar 36 secured to the pulley mechanism 13 and therefore, the pulley mechanism 13 'is secur'ely fastened to the frame but is completely movable with regard thereto and permits haul cable portion 19 to shift through a.1 angle back and forth across the front of the frame member 7.

A bracket 37 is secured as by a rivet 38 to the apex 32 of the A-frame 7 and is provided with an aperture 39' through which extends a loop of cable 41. The loop of cable 41 also extends around a rivet or cross bar 42 secured to the pulley mechanism 12 and thus the pulley mechanism .12 has complete freedom of movement through .with respect to the frame member 7. I p

in operation, thecranei. is initially'set at some convenient location overlooking thearea to vbe excavated and.thebulldozeris initially maneuvered into a' position such that the lines 15 and 19 lie above the work area. The bulldozers bladeis their lowered and dug into the ground sothaf the bulldozer is" securely anehoredinplace and is not displaced during subsequent operations. The winch 14 is caused to haul in on the cable portion 15 while the winch 18 is caused to pay out cable so that the drag-line bucket 21 is disposed on the side of the ridge 3 remote from the crane 1.

During the maneuvering of the bucket 21 into place it may be desirable to maneuver the bulldozer so that the bucket and the cable do not become fouled in intervening trees or on intervening terrain. Therefore, it may be preferable not to anchor the bulldozer 2 until after the bucket has been disposed adjacent the region to be excavated. Thereafter, the haul line 19 is pulled in by the winch 18 and the haul back line 15 is payed out from the winch 14 resulting in movement of the drag bucket 21 toward the crane 1. During this interval, as previously indicated, the bulldozer 2' remains stationary. Upon movement of the drag bucket 21 toward the crane 1 it cuts a furrow into the earth and accumulates a considerable amount of the dirt. In one specific example, a fortycubic yard bucket has been employed. The depth of the cut made by the bucket 21 and the point at which it contacts the mound or hillock 3 is controlled by the position of the A-frame 7 and the boom 16. More particularly, the boom 16 is moved so that the bucket is brought into the general locale of the excavation and then the frame 7 is moved to place the cut. By raising the frame 7, the bucket 21 may be made to contact the very upper portion of the hill 3, whereas by lowering the frame the bucket may be made to cut into the bottom of the hillock. Good practice would dictate that, in the situation illustrated in Figure 1, the boom 16 is initially raised so that the bucket contacts only the very upper surface of the hillock and begins to remove dirt from there.

The haul line continues to haul in the bucket 21 until it is disposed above the gulley 2 at which time the line 19 is slackened so, that the front end of the bucket tips down and dumps the dirt into the desired region. During this maneuver the bulldozer 2' may be maintained stationary and the frame 7 manipulated so as to lift the bucket clear of intervening obstacles or, if desired, the scraper blade of the bulldozer may be raised so that the bulldozer is free to maneuver about the terrain in order to maintain a clear passage of the bucket 21 to the region 2.

' The specific example presented by the terrain illustrated in Figure l is not intended to limit the scope of the invention since obviously the apparatus may be employed to remove dirt from an area and to convey the dirt to waiting trucks or other earth-moving apparatus which removes the earth from the general locale of the excavation. In this latter type of operation, the mobility of the bulldozer 2 is of great importance since the trucks which are to receive the earth from the bucket 21 may li'earelatively long distance away from the apparatus over difiicult terrain. It is in such an operation as this that the extreme mobility of the bulldozer 2 comes into maximum play since the tractor can be maneuvered at all times to maintain the cableportions 15 and 19 and the bucket 21 free of obstacles lying in their path of movement It is seen from the above that the combination of the present invention provides an earth-excavating system which is extremely flexible and which greatly extends the utility and areas of utilization of completely conventional earth-moving apparatus far beyond the limits previously imposed thereon. Specifically, drag line equipment normally employs only a crane such as the crane 1 and the crane had to approach very closely to the area to be excavated and often was required to enter regions in which it was very difficult for trucks to follow. Under the system of the invention, the crane may be located at any desired position and'the bulldozer may be employed to convey the bucket 21 over considerable distances of difficult terrain to waiting trucksor to .a fill areawhich,

contrary to the illustration in Figure 1, may lie a greatdistance from the excavation area. Regardless of the specific terrain in which the apparatus is to be employed,-

the system of the invention greatly increases the maneuverability and flexibility of conventional earth-moving apparatus by permitting the bucket to be positioned a'd-" jacent otherwise inaccessible locations.

While I have described and illustrated one specific em-' bodiment of my invention, it will be clear that variationsof the general arrangement and of the details of construction which are specifically illustrated and described may be resorted to without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. An earth excavating system comprising a crane having a boom, a first winch and a second winch, a bulldozer having a pulley mechanism secured thereto, a cable extending from said first winch around said pulley mechanism on said bulldozer and back to said second winch independently of the boom, an earth accumulator secured to said cable, said crane and said bulldozer being positionable on opposite sides of a region to be excavated.

2. An earth excavating system comprising a crane having a boom with a pulley located at the upper end of the boom, said crane having a first winch and a second winch, a bulldozer having a pulley mechanism, a cable extending from said first winch, over said pulley on said boom, through the pulley mechanism on said bulldozer: and back to said second winch independently of said* boom, and a drag-line bucket attached to the length of said cable extending between said bulldozer and said second winch, said crane and said bulldozer being positionable on opposite sides of a region to be excavated.

3. An earth excavating system comprising a crane having a boom, a first winch and a second winch, a bulldozer having a generally upstanding frame rotatably secured thereto, and a winch having a cable secured to said frame to raise and lower same, a pulley loosely secured to the end of said frame, a cable extending from said first winch over the end of the boom and about said pulley mecha' nism to said second winch, and a drag-line bucket secured to said cable, said crane and said bulldozer being positionable on opposite sides of the region to be excavated.

4. An earth excavating system comprising a crane having a first winch and a second winch, a bulldozer having an upstanding frame rotatably secured thereto, a first pulley mechanism and a second pulley mechanismarranged one above the other, each loosely secured to the frame, a winch secured to said bulldozer and having a cable connected to said frame, a cable extending from said first winch on said crane through said first and second pulley mechanism to said second winch on said crane, and a drag-line bucket secured to said cable, said crane and said bulldozer being positionable on opposite sides of the region to be excavated.

5. An earth excavating system comprising a crane having a boom rotatably secured to said crane, a first winch and a second winch disposed on said crane, a third winch having a cable secured to said boom to raise and lower the boom, a pulley disposed at the upper end of said boom, a bulldozer having an upstanding frame secured thereto for rotation about a horizontal axis, a winch secured to said bulldozer and having a cable connected to said frame, said frame having a first and a second pulley mechanism arranged one above the other, a cable extending from said first winch on said crane over said pulley on said booms, both of said pulley mechanisms on said bulldozer and direct to said second winch on said crane, and a drag-line bucket secured to said cable between said third winch and said bulldozer, whereby with the boom in fixed position the depth of cut by the bucket is determined by the raising and lowering of the frame on the bulldozer.

rain, the combination of a crane having a boom pivoted first or haul-back Winch, a pulley at the upper outer end of the boom, means for moving the boom in desired direction, and a second or haul pulley; said bulldozer having means for raising and lowering the scraper blade and the frame, said frame having at its upper outer end a pulley free to swing through an angle of 180 and having a second pulley spaced from the first frame pulley and also free to swing through an angle of 180, whereby the bulldozer can be anchored by lowering its scraper blade while the excavating bucket is being loaded and the bulldozer may then be moved to a suitable location so that the movement of the loaded bucket avoids obstructions while moving to the point of discharge of the contents of the bucket into a fill or into trucks.

7. A frame for pivotal attachment to a bulldozer, comprising a pair of standards, a cross member joining the standards, said standards merging together and being joined at an apex, a pair of pulleys, and flexible means joining one pulley to the apex of the standards and joining the second pulley to the transverse member so that each of the pulleys may move through an angle of 8. The combination with mechanism for paying out and hauling in cable attached to a load to be dragged in contact with the earth, of a self-propelled vehicle having an anchoring member and a horizontally pivoted frame, a pair of vertically spaced pulleys on said frame, each free to swing through an angle of 180, means for moving the frame about its pivot, and a cable secured to said load, passing over both pulleys and attached to said mechanism, whereby the vehicle may be anchored while the load is being hauled over part of its travel and may be moved for an additional part of such travel so as to avoid an obstacle in the line of direct travel of the load.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 528,891 Price Nov. 6, 1894 768,428 Deidrich Aug. 23, 1904 963,561 Hopkins July 5, 1910 1,734,882 Sayers Nov. 5, 1929 2,050,133 Smith Aug. 4, 1936 2,301,808 Mosher Nov. 10, 1942 2,710,167 Sandland June 7, 1955 2,713,218 Dyer July 19, 1955 

